Marc (center) flanked by Agnostic Front's Roger Miret on the left and Freddy Madball on the right
M.A.D. Tourbooking from Germany has been around for what seems like forever. Marc MAD and crew have been at it now for decades and were also the first ones to welcome US hardcore bands across the Atlantic when no one else was doing it. They have played a big hand in growing the worldwide hardcore scene and in also making some of the bands we all know and love full time acts where the band is their only job. From going to shows for many years it is easy to find people to bad mouth promoters as many have earned their shady reputations. Whether it is monster like build or his stand by his word approach it is hard to find many who will bad mouth Marc or his company. This interview has been in the works for MONTHS as we battled against Marc’s hectic schedule with MAD and some language barriers… but we are finally set to let this one loose. If you want a better picture of MAD’s impact just go to their Facebook page and look over the literally 100’s of tour flyers from tours they have done all over Europe for like forever. Respect to Marc and the MAD crew for their hard work and for making this interview happen. Top flyers graphic by Bas Spierings.
IE: Hello Marc, can you start off by telling us some of the basics about MAD Tour Booking? What year did you start booking shows under the name MAD?
Marc: M.A.D started in the early 80’s out of the Do It Yourself ethic. To us it is the best choice to individualize your way of working and visions, and we are still doing things this way today. Basically Ute and myself started doing shows in 1982, before that I worked on shows with a friend. Doing full tours like most people know us now started in I would say 1988. Before that we really didn’t care to have a name or a logo, we never wanted to be the focus. I focus on my goals and visions and I try to ignore the rest. We still really wouldn´t have one I guess without the gradual processes of having competitors and legalizing everything. Our idea when we started was to create a new possibility between expectations and reality. With all the dreams and revolutionary thoughts we had and have. Music was at the time becoming just the center of this scene, not the individual or attitudes. So we wanted to find bridges and new ways to give bands a way to survive and it was a fine line and a lot of hard ground work to get it all going.
IE: How old were you when you first started booking shows and what was the punk and hardcore scene like in Germany back then?
Marc: I think I was 16 or 17 when I booked my first show. I worked the door before that on early punk shows for a friend who was one of the architects in Europe for punk shows. In the early days we had a lot more heart than brains for sure. I was infected by this at the end of the 70’s from the British punk wave with all the no future, riot and anarchistic philosophy of Generation X. It was a perfect fit for me in West Berlin which was basically an island with a wall around the city. I felt like there were no limits.
Everything kind of flip flopped into hardcore in Europe. It flipped flopped into hardcore in Europe kind of equal to America. Most bands where coming from the mainland like Italy for example Raw Power, Negazione I have to name who turned punk into hardcore over here in Germany too, Germany had never really any good hardcore bands till Charly War put it on the map. I would have to go more into detail to explain this better so please excuse my short words and missing for sure some good talents. Raw Power is still rocking by the way. In ‘84 or ‘85 in Europe it split more and more into 3 groups so to say; squats, legalist venues with proper promoters and the government founded youth center which we didn’t have in West Berlin by the way. Needless to say that this was, the fuel for fission, miscommunication and discord till now even most people are gone or left this scene.
I think it's pretty safe to say that without Marc and MAD, Terror may have not lasted these 13 plus years. Marc has really stuck his neck out for us when we have done dumb childish shit on tour and also when scary moments have happened he has always been there to look out for us. Believe me… me and Marc have had some epic arguments but I consider him a true friend way more than a dude I work with. This guy toured in the USA with Bold in the late 80’s. How cool is that? --- Scott Vogel, Terror
IE: MAD was one of the first groups or agencies to regularly bring US hardcore bands and NYHC bands over to Europe to tour. Who were some of the first bands that you brought over to Europe in the early days of MAD?
Marc: Well, we were the ones who first brought NYHC bands to Europe on a regular basis. I think before us only 2 bands toured once and joined us as well after this as well and we are friends till now. The reality was Europe only got served Alternative Tentacles bands or Dischord bands but the people where listing to other bands… D.I from California was big here at this time as were all the Boston bands as well as many of the bands from NYC so we wanted to bring the bands the people wanted to see. So we started to bring bands like D.I. who packed places with 1000 or more people or Scream, Slapshot and the NYC bands.
IE: What were some of the bigger obstacles or problems you had at first with getting the bands there to play?
Marc: An insurmountable hurdle back in the day were the airfares. So we worked here day and night to get the money together because if we wouldn’t have fronted the money most bands would never have come over here to play.
IE: We want you to name names here and tell us who have been the easiest and most friendly bands to work with over the years? What makes each of these bands so easy to work with?
Marc: I have to speak for me personally and not for all of MAD so I would have to say Agnostic Front, Slapshot, 7 Seconds, Napalm Death, and Carcass to name a few. I’m sure I missed a lot but this list can be much bigger. Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships till now. Simple… we are friends and they never question my work in any territory and we have been working together since day one to the present with them all over Europe. That's probably the biggest key to success and our friendship.
IE: Besides punk and hardcore what other music genres does MAD generally book and which styles of music generally bring in the most profit for you guys?
Marc: If you like to cut this into genres I would say now ska, metal and singer songwriter. For sure metal or punk depends always on the touring rhythm as we go through different stages in life and trends. Genre is just a word. It's totally irrelevant for me. Experience has shown, that it doesn’t depend on what you want to sound like it depends what you are. I saw too many bands and people talking about hardcore or punk who found a long time ago the other side of the system which revealed their real determination.
You are talking about a guy who started booking shows for the love of the hardcore-punk/metal scene. He is responsible for bridging the gap for so many NYHC bands throughout the years, most on their 1st tours. Now 20 plus years later, MAD has become a key ingredient to the worldwide hardcore movement, no question!
If anyone has ever meet Marc they'll tell you he had to have been a pro football lineman in a past life, as he is a really big guy. I'm driving through the city and I'm at a red-light and there's Marc, Maximum Penalty hadn't toured Europe in a few years so I hadn't seen him in a while. I get out and it was as if no time had passed so we proceed to hold up traffic for like 5 minutes during rush hour and catch up and there was not a single horn from anyone! --- Joe Affe, Maximum Penalty
Marc (center) with Suicidal Tendencies
IE: Out of all the tours you do book how many would you say are bands from the US? Do you think MAD could or would continue on if the flow of US bands heading over to Europe slowed or stopped?
Marc: This is a difficult answer and always depends on certain phases since getting US bands here was not always part of our criteria. I just looked at our schedule for you and count roughly about 20 % bands are from the US. Sure we would be able to continue. I have to say a big difference from us to other people is we always keep the faith and care about our own roots and scene and bands. I guess I can say whatever band you know of or heard of from Europe over the last decade we have been involved with booking them.
IE: How many tours would you say MAD books on average each year?
Marc: Maybe 80.
IE: It is widely known that Europe has a lot of summer festivals as well. Does MAD have any hand in getting your touring bands on to these large festivals and if so which ones do you work with?
Marc: I can say we were the pioneers or architects with bringing the bands into these festivals before hardcore was just a cliché. This was one of the ideas of new directions and visions we had in mind a while back. We have come a long way with a lot of success. I never ever thought it could be like this back in the day. So to answer your question, sure we always do festivals all over Europe. We have opened so many doors for bands and other people.
IE: MAD is obviously a business and a successful one at that. Have you had many instances over the years where you may not like a band anymore or maybe not deal at all with a band because you may have had a bad experience with booking them?
Marc: Oh yes. There are more than one of my favorite records or so called friends that I can’t listen to anymore after dealing with them and all the ……. Biggest problem was all these bands in the mid 90’s who wanted to be the next big thing and to be mainstream and got their managers like snakes twisting their heads. Of course everything did not work out or they failed at this. Back then we also had a fully functioning scene of respect and appreciation and some people turned their backs on this community. They turned their backs because they played the wrong places, with higher door prices funny combination of support bands so nobody wanted to support this. So yes I have a lot of scars.
IE: What are some of the biggest differences you notice from booking shows today as compared to when MAD was first starting out? Would you say it is the style of the music, the people making the music or the people coming to see the bands perform? What are some of the good and the bad?
Marc: All 3 parts you mention have changed a lot. Back in the day it was a network of friends as I said with a fully functioning scene of respect and appreciation. Sure we had different ideas and in many cases were all different people but all who respected each other. Now we are the same elbow society we hated and wanted to change. Jealousy, utilization and exploitation is what happened to hardcore. H20 sings this in one of their songs and I have to ask that same question. There are enough hearts out there so this flame still burns and this period we will survive like we have in the past.
Marc MAD has been into the hardcore punk and OI scene since he's a little kid. Well he was never little, haha!. Anyone who has seen him will know what I'm talking about. This has always been his life and what he's been passionate about. Agnostic Front is Marc's first band so throughout all these years we have had very good relations with him. Marc and MAD Tour Booking are the ones responsible for making hardcore a worldwide thing making it possible for us and a lot of other bands to bring our music to places from Istanbul Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria, Germany and many other countries in Europe. I can’t list them all but.to me that's pretty amazing. It takes hard work to make this happen and that's why we got Marc and Mad on our side as a friend and booking agent.
My favorite story about Marc was before I was in the band. It's was one of AF’s first tours in Europe. Marc was driving the bus. There was a snow and hail storm as they were traveling. At one point the front windshield shattered. He kicked the rest of the windshield out and finished the drive to the show. Now that's hard! True story! --- Mike Gallo, Agnostic Front
IE: How many people are currently employed by MAD and is there a main office or is this something you do from your home?
Marc: Beside Ute and me in the office, we have 4 people working and 5 on the road.
IE: Do you still get the same joy or satisfaction out of doing this that you may have gotten 20 years ago when you were newer to all of this?
Marc: I think having toured the world and seeing many places, I've just been blown away by so many people I see and still call my friends and yes I’m still up as day one. Even in some ways as a human or a fan of the music I has been greatly disappointed at times and a bit more scared so I’m barely able to appreciate some of the bands I loved. But I’m searching always for what’s new and to be a part of helping bands grow and when you get a thank you or smile back from fans or an artist it is what gives me again and again the same satisfaction.
MAD, in my eyes is one of the biggest reasons that hardcore music as a genre thrives and is taken seriously in Europe. The European music scene takes heavy music very seriously, and hardcore music is a big part of it. Early on MAD brought bands like Agnostic Front and Sick of it All to Europe and helped make them reputable acts that can be right in the mix with bands like Anthrax or any other successful metal group. I've witnessed hardcore bands playing big sold out venues and even these huge fests, and not only holding their own, but literally controlling the crowd. Just to know that there are great bands in the style of the music that I hold dear that can actually be successful and make a living off of the style of music that I love is really satisfying. MAD has been a big part of the success of some of these bands. Also, keep in mind, now with the Internet, kids from all over the planet look at these huge festival flyers in Europe and the see the names like Madball, Hatebreed or Terror on these posters alongside names like Slayer, Slipknot, or Judas Priest. It's very important as far as perception. Now we see these European style heavy music fests popping up in Canada and in Australia. ---Richie Mancuso, Wisdom In Chains
IE: What are some of the accomplishments you have had with MAD that make you the proudest when you think back over the years and see all the tours you have put together?
Marc: I guess we are the only one who made it through all these years and when to the hard days and good days over every stick and stone. We never gave up our political and ethical beliefs. Just to be one of the architects who kept punk and hardcore what is all my life alive itself should make me proud. I saw so many bands coming and going talking bad about hardcore in the past and coming back when big offers came flying in to cash in… but we will be here as well when they are gone again.
IE: Meeting and becoming friends with many of the bands you deal with must come with not only gaining great life experiences but also memorabilia. What are some of the best things you own that you have gotten from any of the bands that you have dealt with?
Marc: I have a lot of things from over the years but I think you are talking more like this for example… a Christmas recording about MAD made only for me and Ute from the business from Brandon from SFA did I think almost 20 years ago. It is a Merry Christmas video for us with all the people from the NYC hardcore family in front of CBGB’S in the street. I was and I am still stirred to tears when I see it. WATCH that video below
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